2018 Nicolas Maillart Les Jolivettes
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Certified sustainable (HVE). 100% Pinot Noir from Bouzy, a mass-selection vineyard planted in 1987. Vinified in oak barrels and aged on fine lees before secondary fermentation. Unfiltered, unfined. Dosage 1 g/l. Disgorged August 2022. 3,540 bottles and 62 magnums produced. Smells like biting into a ripe apple in the orchard. Grass, rain, wild flowers, blackcurrants, cassis, blackcurrant bud, tarragon. Singing like a robin at dawn. There is something somehow 'naked' about this wine – it's filigree and transparent. Like soft summer rain on rose petals and old stone walls just after dawn. Effortless, mesmerising beauty. (TC)
Critic scores
Tamlyn Currin, jancisrobinson.com
Tamlyn Currin, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
100% Pinot Noir from a 0.6-ha vineyard on Campanien chalk soils. 30-year-old vines farmed organically and biodynamically. Vinfied in barrels and aged on lees for eight months before bottling for secondary fermentation. Dosage 1 g/l. Apples and pears. Summery orchard fruit with a hint of green grass, honey and jasmine. Ginger-root biscuit underneath. Firm bubbles and the determination of the acidity feels like it's cracking structure into the wine. Even so, the fresh-fruit sweetness and fruit roundness of this wine is amazing, considering the ultra-low dosage. Nicolas Maillart makes very distinctive champagnes. (TC)